


Memento

by deadbydaylight



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/F, i think about what she did immediately after leaving like. a lot, lol, no comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27984783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadbydaylight/pseuds/deadbydaylight
Summary: Blake roams the streets of a now ruined Vale alone after the fall of Beacon, unable to stop the memories that come along with it.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	Memento

It’s eerie how quickly a place she had come to think of as her home became unrecognizable- upturned concrete where there had been functional roads, street signs knocked to the ground, scattered pieces of torn clothing and broken glass strewn across sidewalks. It’s so desolate, so completely torn apart that she can hardly navigate it anymore.

It seems like pure luck when she comes across the abandoned craft store.

 _Not perfect._ She slowly pulls her hand back from where she’s holding the wound on her abdomen. The pressure slowed the bleeding, but wasn’t able to stop it entirely. _But it’ll have to do._

She makes her way inside, the broken glass crackling under her boots as she wanders the aisles. It’s comforting, in a way, breaks the silence- the awful, haunting silence that had set in once Blake had snuck away from the others, out into the town, far away from the others. Far enough, she hopes, that she can’t hurt them anymore. 

She stops for a moment, watches the blood drip from her side onto the floor. It seems trivial. Trivial, at least, in comparison to what had happened to Yang.

Her heart nearly stops in her chest for the hundredth time that night. 

_Yang._

Yang. She can’t think of her, maybe even doesn’t deserve to. She fooled herself into thinking she could have friends, into thinking she could love someone. And she _did._ That was the problem. She was selfish enough to let herself get comfortable, and she didn’t even pay the price for it. Yang did.

For a minute she thinks about giving up- just sliding down onto the floor and sitting there for awhile, until she bleeds out onto the ground or until another grimm comes along. It doesn’t really matter which.

She doesn’t, though. She grips her side tight enough that it hurts, tries to push all of the thoughts of her team and her family and anyone who might have loved her out of her mind as she makes her way through the aisles until she finds a needle and thread. 

_It was at the dance, her hand in Yang’s as they moved together on the floor, that she realized how badly she had messed up. She should have left then, packed everything up without looking back- but her resolve crumpled watching the way Yang moved in time with her, the moonlight coming in through the window and dancing across her body._

_She was foolish, thought it would be easy to make it through Beacon without forming any connections._

_She only realized when it was too late, her eyes locking with Yang’s, that it was much, much easier falling in love._

Blake winces as she threads the last of the stitches through her skin, rising slowly back to her feet after she finishes. It only really hits her then that she has no plan, not a place in the world she can go where she won’t be putting anyone at risk.

So she wanders back onto the street. Focuses on moving her feet, the mechanics of it. One in front of the other, one in front of the other. Repeat. 

_“Okay! Open your eyes.” Yang said, voice laced with barely-concealed excitement as she skidded her bike to a halt._

_Blake moved her head from where it had been buried in Yang’s neck, slowly opening her eyes, trying to register what was in front of her. “This… is an arcade.”_

_"Not just any arcade- the biggest one in Vale! Qrow used to take me and Ruby sometimes. I haven’t been here in ages.”_

_“I have to admit, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind when you told me to clear my schedule for tonight.”_

_Blake watched Yang’s face for a minute. Her eyes were far off, imagining, replaying some distant memory in her head. She realized, briefly, that Yang brought her here because of its significance to her- a little part of her past, shared with Blake._

_Yang turned to look at her. “I mean, we can go somewhere else if you’re afraid I’m going to go in there and kick your ass. I don’t mean to brag, but let’s just say I bet my name’s still at the top on a couple of the high score lists.”_

_Blake rolled her eyes, a small smile finding its way to the corner of her lips. “Not if I can do anything about it.”_

She doesn’t realize where she’s heading until she’s in front of the arcade. It takes her a moment to recognize it, the letters on the storefront mostly fallen off save for a few- crooked and tilting, clinging for dear life. It looks… smaller now, too, somehow- the wonder stripped away, the colors not nearly as vibrant. 

The inside isn’t as completely destroyed as some of the other stores, but it is a mess, regardless. There are personal items scattered across the place- prizes that were won only to be abandoned in the midst of chaos, drinks spilled onto the neon-patterned carpet, food left uneaten at booths. Looking at all of it, it’s hard for her to believe the place was operating normally not even 24 hours ago. 

_But then again. You, of all people, should know how quickly things can go to shit._ She thinks, stomach dropping as another pang of guilt hits her, continues to eat away at her. She truly believes for a moment that it might kill her, that maybe she deserves it if it does. 

_They were nearly ready to call it quits and head back to Beacon when Yang spotted it at the back of the room, her eyes lighting up instantly. “Those were never here before.”_

_Blake turned her head towards the direction she was looking in, freezing in place when she saw the machines. “No. Absolutely not. I am_ **_not_ ** _doing that.”_

_Yang looked back at her, those stupid lilac eyes wide, begging, and Blake knew it was over._

_“I can’t even dance.” She protested one last time, feebly._

_"You don’t even have to, just step on the arrows when the screen tells you to. Come on, it’ll be fun!” Yang reached for her wrist to lead her over and Blake flushed, the touch effectively rendering her useless._

Blake doesn’t know why she’s surprised when the machines are in the same spot in the back of the arcade. It wasn’t long ago they were here, after all, it had only been a few months. It doesn’t feel that short though- it feels ages ago, distant, unreachable- like it never even happened. Like a dream. She had her, and then she didn’t. 

She wishes she never met any of them. Ruby. Weiss. Yang... It feels wrong when she admits it to herself, but here, in this moment- she means it. All of the love she has for them doesn’t matter. It’s selfish love. A poison. They enriched her life, and, in return, she actively brought danger into theirs. 

_Some people deserve to be alone._

She turns to head to the restaurant portion of the arcade, figures maybe there will be some food she can pack there, when a picture on a board in the distance catches her eye and stops her in her tracks. 

_Yang was beaming at the camera as it flashed._

_“See,” She said, turning to Blake, smile still wide on her face. “I told you we should try it out.”_

_"Riiiiight. Because being put on a wall of fame for the highest score on a dancing game is a very prestigious honor.”_

_“I think someone’s just grumpy because they’re not on the wall of fame.”_

_“You caught me. I’m heartbroken.”_

_“Well, maybe I’ll go easy on you next time.”_

_"Careful. You keep taking me out and people might think you like me or something.”_

_“Yeah, well… Maybe I do.”_

Blake pulls the picture off the board, gently and carefully like she’s holding something sacred. She looks at Yang and tears that she didn’t know she had left sting at her eyes. 

_You did like me._

_And it ruined you._

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Takes place right after the Fall of Beacon. I realized half way through this Blake would probably already be stitched up given she's bandaged in the scene in the show where she holds Yang's hand but like, we're going to ignore that okay?


End file.
